Materia of Legend
by AcidCherry
Summary: It's the year 0173, and ironically Yuffie is the only AVALANCHE member still alive. Not for long though if she has anything to say about it.


Disclaimer: I own nothing, except for the plot.

* * *

It was a sudden chipping noise that woke Yuffie. It seemed to be getting steadily closer as she gained awareness of her surroundings.

_Can't a girl get any sleep around here? Gawd. S_he thought groggily. It was taking her way too long to wake up.

"We should switch to the fire materia now, men."

The word materia was enough to make her open her eyes, even if she had no clue who'd said it. Except when she tried to lift her eyelids, she couldn't. They seemed to be held in place. Now that she thought about it though, it wasn't just her eyelids that felt restrained. Every inch of her body was being held in place somehow. The pressure she felt wasn't suffocating, but she could still feel it surrounding her.

That's when she noticed a second sensation. When she had first awoke she hadn't felt it, but now her skin was tingling with the feeling. It was _cold_.

"What if she's still alive? Won't the fire magic burn her?" came the questioning voice of a man.

"Nah. This doesn't look like normal ice. It's more like materia-cast ice. Maybe an Ice 3 or something." This man's voice had a deeper and rougher edge to it. He was most likely older than the other man.

_Hold up a sec!_ Yuffie's thoughts were becoming panicked as she made sense of the situation, _I'm frozen! Freaking stuck in ice! Practically a popsicle!_

The more she thought about it the more she started to feel claustrophobia settling in. She was trying to move her arms and legs now, but no matter how much she strained her muscles, nothing moved. It was a frustrating feelings, and also a very familiar one.

Then it struck her. She wasn't just frozen, she had Stop cast on her too!

_Wow, whose materia did I steal now? _Yuffie was a professional materia thief, but every now and then someone sought revenge on her, and if they had the resources and dedication to find a ninja like herself, it didn't end pleasantly.

Her train of thought was interrupted as a wave of heat washed over her. She could feel water running down her face, then down her shirt, and she decided it was definitely one of the most uncomfortable feelings _ever_ to have ice melt off you and not be able to move an inch because of a Stop spell. Luckily one of the men was smart enough to wonder why now that the ice wasn't there to hold her up she was still standing with her arms outstretched.

"Looks like a Stop too, sir," offered the smart man.

"Terrance, get the Cure," ordered the oldest sounding man, who was apparently also in charge.

_Yes! These guys are my heroes, I swear. Even if I probably would have gotten myself out eventually. Hey wait, how long have I been here anyway? _Yuffie's sense of time had been muddles by the Stop, and probably Sleep too, since she remembered waking up not too long ago.

_Uhhh... last thing I remember was..._

_Oh right, the first anniversary of my old man's death. I was heading over to Wutai. _The reminder sobered Yuffie's mood a bit, but she was determined to remember the date. _It was definitely August. August... 3__rd__ I think. I'm sure these guys'll tell me the day today, then all it takes is a bit of math!_

She inwardly grimaced at the thought of math. She was a ninja, when did she ever need math other than to count the points on her shuriken?

"Shall I cast it, sir?" So the guy had finally come back with the cure materia.

"Hold on," replied the leader, "Jake and Lyssa, grab each an arm in case the girl's hostile. You never know why she was frozen like this."

They were gonna try and hold her down?

_Good luck with that, fools! _Yuffie was really starting to wish she could talk.

As the man and woman – presumably Jake and Lyssa – took hold of her outstretched arms, and the other guy prepared to cast Esuna, Yuffie was readying herself for some epic ninja escape-restraint moves.

That idea was quickly washed from her mind however as she felt control return to her limbs. It was a good thing someone was holding her up, because the return of motion to her body brought with it such fatigue that her legs gave up on her. Even her eyelids felt too heavy to lift. How long had she been in this position?

"Ugh..." was all she could manage. She felt a hand on her back lowering her softly to the ground.

"She's alive, sir," the man beside her – Jake, said.

"He can see that," probably Lyssa retorted.

"Y-you guys have any water?" Yuffie almost begged. Her throat felt like sandpaper it was so parched.

The water that slid down her throat awhile later had and instantly refreshing effect, but the potion that followed it was what gave her the strength to open her eyes and look around.

She was in a cave with a high roof covered in stalactites. The only illumination was coming from the lights attached to the helmets of the half a dozen men in the cave. Yuffie could see two openings at the far end, both leading to pitch black tunnels. She wondered which one led out of this place, since she certainly didn't remember coming here of her own free will. She was pretty sure she wouldn't have willingly decided on spelunking in her current outfit. She was wearing her shortest ninja shorts and a tube-top that she had just recently bought at a nice shop in Costa del Sol. She had liked how the pastel pink contrasted with her dark hair and more olive skin tone. The shirt looked nice with her weapons belt and giant shuriken too.

_My shuriken's missing! I always have it with me. Who the hell was daring enough to take it from me? _A quick check to the pockets on her belt revealed that they'd also taken all her materia and throwing knives.

So not only did her attackers leave her frozen, stopped, and asleep in a cave, but they left her defenceless too?

"What's your name, girl?" asked the leader suddenly. They were all staring curiously at her. It was almost enough to make her too nervous to speak. Almost.

"I'm the Great Ninja Yuffie!" she almost added White Rose of Wutai too, but Wutai reminded her of Godo, and she wasn't in the mood to reminisce about that.

When the men all looked confused at her exclamation she scrunched her eyebrows in worry, and tried again. "Single most amazing materia collector ever?"

One man snorted at that, and she jumped to her feet in protest. The guy named Jake grabbed her arm again and said what looked to be on everyone's mind. "There's no wild materia left these days. The planet stopped creating it half a century ago."

_No. Materia. Left?_

Those words were swirling in her head, and her mouth was open in pure shock. "T-then how did you guys unfreeze me?" she succeeded in asking, "and what're you talking about; _half a century ago?_" There were too many questions!

The leader then stepped forward and Yuffie forced herself to focus on him in case he had any answers for her.

"We work for the government, so it's specially issued materia that's still left over," he then frowned and looked her up and down calculatingly, "and I'm starting to wonder just how long you were frozen here."

"My great grandmother had clothes like that in her closet," said one of the men closest to her.

"What!" Yuffie prided herself in her ability to accommodate the latest styles into combat-ready outfits, and so she decided the man who'd said that was now on her hit list. She'd steal his materia, whether is was government issued or not. It wasn't like he was wearing the most stylish jacket either. Actually, now that she looked around the group, they were all wearing the same sort of buttoned-up jacket. It did look vaguely like a uniform, though definitely not like the WRO ones.

"How long was I frozen here?" she suddenly remembered her intention to ask the date, "What day is it?"

"It's October 20th," the leader paused, considering, then added, "0173."

At first Yuffie thought she'd misheard. There was no way she'd been frozen for 163 years. She should have been dead. A pile of dust-covered bones! Materia didn't have that kind of preserving ability... or did it? What did she know about materia other than how to swiftly relinquish people of their possession of it? And what about everyone else? What had happened to her friends without her?

One thing Yuffie was sure she needed right then was to get out of the cave and find someone or something that could answer those questions.


End file.
